Mike Sanders and Jim Hinson: Former public officials exposed as frauds

It’s no wonder many people are cynical about politics and the notion of public service.

This week we have seen two examples of once-respected public officials having given in to the temptation to line their own pockets.

The two I speak of are former Jackson County Executive Mike Sanders and former Shawnee Mission School District Superintendent Jim Hinson.

Let’s look at Sanders first…

Mike Sanders and wife Georgia, outside the federal courthouse

Once considered a “rising star in Missouri’s Democratic Party,” as The Star put it, Sanders — a lawyer, no less — pleaded guilty Friday to a federal corruption charge, admitting he misused tens of thousands of dollars for his personal gain and then lied about it on campaign finance records.

Specifically, he and his former chief of staff Calvin Williford, who also pleaded guilty to one felony count, acknowledged they used campaign cash for gambling trips to Las Vegas and other personal purposes.

What a couple of idiots. But Sanders more than Williford. My guess is Williford allowed himself to fall under Sanders’ misguided influence and felt honored and flattered to be asked to join the boss on junkets to the “Entertainment Capital of the World.”

The Star’s “killer team” of Mike Hendricks and Steve Vockrodt had a very telling paragraph in their story:

“While the 50-year-old Sanders was stoic during and after his hearing, Williford, 60, sobbed following his proceedings after greeting friends and family members in the audience. He could be heard telling his family, ‘I am such an idiot.’ ”

That certainly makes me more sympathetic to Williford, and I hope he can turn his life around and get a good job somewhere after prison — if, indeed, he and Sanders end up doing time.

But Sanders…Wow, what a turd. What a phony.

He took everybody by surprise on Dec. 21, 2015, when he called a press conference and dropped a bombshell: He would be leaving his elective position in 10 days, at the end of the year, with three years left in his third term. He had previously served a four-year term as county prosecutor.

At the news conference, his wife Georgia sat off to one side, smiling pleasantly, as Sanders explained he was leaving politics because the job was taking too big a toll on his family life.

He said:

“Now it’s time for me to really focus on my family and do what’s really necessary to raise my two sons, 9 and 12, and focus on that. For us, I think it’s a great time as a family…The thing about politics, the thing specifically about this job is it takes you away so much. It is truly a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week job. You never know when that phone call’s going to come…”

We know now that the FBI was onto him even then and that he was making his exit because of the nasty cloud that had formed over him.

How much his wife knew then we have no idea. I hope it was nothing, or not much. In any event, her words that day have a decidedly different ring to them in light of yesterday’s plea.

“I’m so thrilled,” she said back then. “It’s time. It’s time for him to move on and do something different. I’m so happy for him, and for us.”

Again yesterday, Georgia Sanders was with her husband. Again she was off to the side. But she was not smiling.

And what about those boys? They would now be 11 and 14…I wonder what they’re thinking about good ol’ Dad. How confused and disappointed they must be. I hope they were spared the images of their father on the steps of the federal courthouse, listening to his lawyer speak for him, professing how apologetic he was “not only to his family but the residents of Jackson County.”

Yes, Friday was a bad day for Jackson County residents. Once again we are left sorely disappointed by an elected official who seemed like an advocate of good government but turned out to be another crook trying to enrich himself.

**

Hinson

Hinson isn’t nearly as reprehensible as Sanders, but he’s another who left people wondering why his commitment to public service evaporated in a flash.

Hinson announced last April that he would retire at the end of the last school year, even though he was only 54 at the time and had only been on the job four years. In a statement, he played the same, tired song Sanders had played, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family and “pursue other lifelong goals.”

What was clear, though, was he just wanted to disappear. And no wonder: Rumors of romantic liaisons with one or more district officials swirled, and there was a rumor of a D.U.I.

So he did disappear, for a while, anyway. This week, though, he was back in the news.

The Shawnee Mission Post, which does a great job covering central and eastern Johnson County, reported that Hinson had taken a consulting job with the very law firm he had brought on, as superintendent, to handle most of the school district’s legal business.

It’s a classic case of the old revolving door, where a public official channels a lot of business to some firm or some “consultants” and then doubles back after leaving office and gets rewarded for his earlier beneficence.

The Post had the figures showing just how deep the beneficence was. The law firm, EdCounsel, billed SMSD $10,106 during the 2013-14 school year; $69,982 in 2014-15; $188,823 in 2015-16; and a whopping $405,111 last school year.

I’m sure EdCounsel very much appreciated Hinson’s patronage. But, like Jackson County residents with Sanders, what good did any of that do for the patrons of the Shawnee Mission School District? Hinson’s legacy, in my opinion — and I’m a substitute SMSD teacher — is having constructed a wide moat between parents and district governance on one hand, and between teachers and district administration on the other.

Under him, the district became insular and secretive, and teachers chafed under his autocratic rule. The district will be struggling for a long time to undo the damage Jim Hinson wrought. I’m sure he doesn’t care, though; he’s getting big payback for enriching a bunch of lawyers.

**

Note: A big thank-you to friend and regular reader Tracy Thomas for the tip on Hinson.

I’m not so sure we will get a lot more information regarding vices, personal failings, etc.

I have to admit, however, when I read about those Las Vegas trips, I wondered if Sanders and Williford indulged in any games of the flesh, a la Prince Philip when he was a young man — and husband of a young QE II — and sailing to various parts of the British Empire with his aide and right-hand man, Lt. Cmdr. Michael Parker.

I went back and reread your previous article and followed your link to the original Hendricks and Company story. What is blowing my mind is he got off with one charge when that article indicates this goes back to at least 2006. Is one count normal or is he receiving special favor?

When his original check casher committed suicide he quickly switched to the brother in the wheel chair. Was the suicide connected to the FBI investigation? My mind is spinning thinking about the parts of the story we haven’t heard, not to mention what was he doing before 2006. Will the public ever learn the truth? Or did the truth disappear when the plea bargain was signed?

You pose good questions, Liselotte, and I have no answers. First, I don’t understand why it took three years to bring this case forward, when it appears so clear cut. But I guess power and money (he wasn’t hurting after he left office, having been working for the McLain law firm in Independence) have a way of making the feds proceed cautiously.

Also, he had the assistance of a very good defense attorney, J.R. Hobbs, and you can’t underestimate that.

And, no, I don’t think we’ll ever get the back story. That lies with the individuals involved and those close to them…I’ll let you know if I hear anything I can pin down with sources.

It’s pretty common for a plea agreement in white-collar cases to dangle the threat of many possible charges as an incentive for a plea; the plea itself is often only one charge (see Mike Flynn, George Papadopoulous). Even when a white-collar criminal is convicted of many counts, the sentence on counts typically is concurrent rather than consecutive. Getting the conviction is a greater priority than getting a long sentence.

If you want to understand the #metoo movement and how harassment can lead to misery, just look at the Hinson playbook…it’s exactly the same. Hinson, and his administrative cronies, (principals, the A.D., department heads, etc.) came in with a massive, flim-flam plan to raise test scores by gaming the system with “magic pillow” vendors. District employees who accepted their “advances” were promoted and protected in the system. Employees that raised alarm to the fraud were separated from the herd and driven out through a systematic process outlined in “how to get rid of ‘non-team’ employees,” supported by a corrupt school board and high-priced defense teams. The most enlightening aspect of the whole grand game is how so few people, within the system failed to speak out in fear of losing income or their sacred health insurance. The damage to certain segments of the student population will never be repaired. Most of the Hinsonite carpetbaggers are still in the system, embedded. It will take years, if it is even possible, for the district to recover.

Always beware the seemingly industrious, or powerful person who suddenly becomes interested in his family.

As for the education establishment you have but to examine the case of Dale Dennis, the 80-year-old Educrook bureaucrat who pissed away over 400 million ta dollars inappropriately and when called on it by a legislative audit, the Educrook establishment callously formed ranks around him and refused to even suspend a man who should have retired 15 years ago. Indeed, they praised him for the wonderful job he did. I guarantee you that not one dollar of that money ever saw the inside of a classroom.

Our world needs thousands of teams like Vockrodt and Hendricks and work like theirs is what can truly save the local newspaper if only they have the spine and the objectivity to do it. Witness also the success of the recent investigative work on transparency (although I have questions about The Star’s sincerity) as committee generated bills in the Kansas legislature are now a thing of the past.

“How much (Mike Sanders’) wife knew then we have no idea.” It’s interesting that Steve Vockrodt’s online article briefly described Sanders’ wife as an unindicted conspirator, but has since just referred to “two other unidentified conspirators.” It would be interesting to find out why the article changed.

I just smile when people mention my connections at The Star, Mark. My connections are very, very limited. That’s partly because I’ve been gone nearly 12 years now and also because others who were working there when I was still there got laid off or left voluntarily.

Also, it’s pretty hard to maintain sources at a place when you pop a post, like I did the other day, under the headline “Star Blows It…”

What I would glean from the version changes regarding Georgia Sanders is that the editors decided if no charges were being brought against her, “Let’s take the safe route and not name her at all.”

As has been abundantly clear from the Thomas Pickert murder case, The Star is scared to death to name anyone not officially declared a suspect, for fear of being sued. It’s too bad because the burden of proof in libel cases is overwhelmingly on the plaintiff. Meanwhile, the readers get short-changed and are often left scratching their heads because of the paper’s timidity.

With all due respect, Fitz. I think your finest work has been the unfettered reporting you’ve done since leaving The Star.

As you know, one of my favorite journalists was Roy Teicher at the now defunct Kansan and his approach to his editorial position was to hire inquisitive young reporters guide them into asking interesting questions and then let them report on what they saw in front of them.

I have come upon good information that discredits my earlier speculation about why The Star may have pulled the reference to Georgia Sanders as an unindicted co-conspirator. Apparently, it appeared from court documents that Georgia might have been an unindicted co-conspirator but the reporters soon discovered their deduction was incorrect, and they pulled it back. Making that change had nothing to do with tentativeness to associate her with a crime. My mistake…

At the same time, I learned that Georgia did, indeed, accompany Mike and Calvin on the Las Vegas trips. So, my stated hope that she knew little or nothing about the illegality could well be off base, too.